


To Love and Love and Love Again

by lifeaftermeteor



Series: Life After Meteor [21]
Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: BROTPs abound, Drama, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, M/M, Politics, Post-Canon, Post-Endless Waltz, Post-Series, Preventers, Romance, Slice of Life, Wedding Fluff, background Sally Po/Lady Une
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:46:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 16,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27309412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifeaftermeteor/pseuds/lifeaftermeteor
Summary: Following their Christmas engagement, Wufei and Relena bring their family together for their nuptials. The celebration gives their guests an opportunity to reflect on their own romantic inclinations.
Relationships: Chang Wufei/Relena Peacecraft, Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy
Series: Life After Meteor [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/391015
Comments: 14
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is part 21 of the [Life After Meteor series](https://archiveofourown.org/series/391015), which trails the Gundam Pilots (and others) through the years post-war. Welcome comments/feedback. And as always, I could never have done it without the unending support and beta reading by the delightful [tumbledrylemur](http://archiveofourown.org/users/tumbledrylemur/). Thank you so much! <3

**President’s Suite  
** **Brussels, Belgium  
** **23 January 211**

“What was their response?”

“‘Okay.’”

Duo snorted and looked up at Zikri, the new special assistant—his successor, truthfully—who hovered at his desk, wholly unsure what to do with the bad news. He looked young, though Duo knew full well that he couldn’t have been more than a few years younger than himself. At most. 

“‘Okay,’” Duo echoed at last, incredulous. “So somewhere between ‘Uh huh’ and the thumbs-up emoji.” 

“Basically yeah.”

“Jesus.” He sighed and tousled his bangs, sitting back in his chair as he mulled their options. A senior staffer on a key committee blowing them off wasn’t exactly new, but he was reluctant to let it slide this early on in the new administration. Sitting upright, he pulled up his email and started scrolling through names. “I’m going to give you contact information for some of the other staffers. Be delicate. I don’t want this guy to get wind that we’re talking to other members’ teams, but I also don’t trust him as the be-all and end-all of their collective opinion. Ya know?”

“Tracking.” 

“Good.” Duo sent the list over and then stood while Zikri headed back to his desk. Duo stood as he tucked his folio under his arm, walking toward the back of the presidential suite to collect the boss. Over his shoulder he instructed, “Give ‘em a call and let me know what we’re up against.”

“Roger that.”

Duo shook his head, grinning and stifling his laughter. They were going to have to do something about the kid. He was giving him some serious flashbacks to a _certain someone_ from what felt like centuries ago. At the thought, he checked his watch. 

Right on time the mobile in his breast pocket vibrated and with a grin, he pulled out the device to read the message from Heero. _Good luck. Don’t start any wars._

Duo smirked and slipped the device out of sight again. One more meeting. One more meeting and he’d be free for the evening. Or as free as this job would allow him. 

Walking into the President’s office, he prompted, “Ready?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Director’s Suite, Preventers Headquarters  
** **Geneva, Switzerland  
** **11 February 211**

“Can I talk to you?” 

Sally looked up as Wufei stepped into her office. “Yes, of course,” she said and watched him close the door. “What is it?” she asked, standing. He waved off her concern and took a seat at one of the guest chairs as she lowered herself back down behind her desk. 

“I heard back from the General Counsel.”

“And?” 

He laughed, but it sounded jaded to her ears. “Apparently marrying a senior ESUN official with direct lines to the President doesn’t constitute a conflict of interest for the Preventers Chief of Staff. They all but laughed at me at the very notion.”

Sally sighed with some relief and offered a reassuring smile. It was true that in the fifteen— _ Shit, fifteen! _ —years since the end of the conflict and the birth of the ESUN, the people who kept the global political machine running had grown increasingly interconnected. Everyone working in the field was connected to someone else working in the trenches, whether in the hallowed halls of the General Assembly, the Preventer Corps, or some other associated institution. Conflict of interest was a tough verdict to get these days.

But what should have been good news seemed to trouble Wufei. She said as much and he grimaced, looking away. She hesitated another moment before she said, “You  _ can  _ talk to me, you know. I realize I’m technically your boss, but I’ve always seen us as more of a team.”

He looked at her with some wariness at first, but it faded as they sat together in comfortable silence. After a time he murmured, “I had thought this conversation would be very different, candidly. I had thought they would’ve told me something else.”

“If you thought the legal team would give you an out and tell you to quit ahead of your nuptials, clearly you have other plans lined up,” Sally teased. 

Wufei shook his head, his face betraying his amusement. “It’s not like there’s some other offer in the wings, Sally.” 

The comment was a comfort. “There will be, once people know you’re on the market.”

He sobered then, his gaze turning inward. “I don’t think that’s what I want though.” 

“Oh? What  _ do  _ you want then?”

Wufei fidgeted under her gaze, his eyes scanning the room and his fingers twitching. Sally half-expected him to stand and pace, but he resisted. At last, he shared, “I finished my degree. With NYU. Remotely, obviously, and it was a  _ bitch _ to do while here in Geneva, but I  _ did  _ finish.”

“I know,” Sally told him nodding. She’d been rather proud of him when he told her and she strongly suspected he hadn’t sought similar commendation from any of his cohort as much as some part of him wanted it. 

“It made me think about how Duo left the Preventers and went to school. I...envied him for it, though I’ll deny it to the grave should anyone tell him.”

“Noted.”

“But it got me thinking about what  _ I  _ wanted to do. And with Heero quitting last year...I’m beginning to think maybe this isn’t it. Or won’t be for much longer.”

Sally gave him a soft smile. When she brought Wufei onto the team with her, she had been thankful for the familiar face amidst the chaos. She had hoped to have him with her for the long-haul, but you didn’t always get what you wanted. With a sigh, she said, “As your boss, I will be loath to lose you. But as your friend...I want you to be happy. Above everything, to be happy. You and Relena are taking an important step this summer and I’m honored—truly, honored—that you two invited me to come. It’s the start of a new chapter for you. For you both, really. And if that means that you leave us for greener pastures, so be it. We’ll continue on without you. Though,” she concluded with a playful wink, “doesn’t mean I won’t miss you.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Location Undetermined  
** **Rainforest, Vietnam  
** **13 March 211**

“Please, please tell me you  _ did not _ tell the Deputy Under Secretary to ‘die mad about it.’”

“Oh, I bet he did!” Trowa laughed before Duo could reply. Looking up from the camera equipment in his lap, he turned his attention to the split video feeds on his computer. Connected directly via the satlink angled up at the sky, he watched as Wufei buried his face in his hands while in another box Relena dropped her head back on her shoulders to stare up at the ceiling, as if beseeching some higher authority—for forgiveness or patience, it was unclear. Hilde and Quatre found the whole thing highly amusing, judging by their own reactions. 

Duo, meanwhile, grimaced and shrugged, his arms gesturing vaguely about him. “I mean…I didn’t say  _ he specifically  _ had to die mad about it, just...you know.  _ Unnamed persons...could… _ In general. It  _ could  _ be him, if he was so inclined. But—”

“Stop,” Wufei ordered. “Stop. Just…Duo…dammit—”

Duo gave up the ruse, his face betraying all the dark humor he had about the situation as he grinned like a demon. From behind him, Heero strode into view, cradling a steaming mug between his hands and looking more relaxed than Trowa could ever remember seeing him. Duo shifted slightly as Heero came up beside him, giving him additional space as he sat down in front of the camera. The audio from their feed picked up a casual, “Causing diplomatic incidents again?” before Heero brought the mug to his lips and took a drink.

Duo snorted. “Dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it,” he said, as if acknowledging some great burden.

“Your  _ job  _ is to keep the President’s Office running!” Wufei shot back with all the exasperation of one Chief of Staff to another.

“‘Instigator’ is clearly part of the position description,” Quatre intoned, smirking.

Duo wagged his finger at the screen. “The President’s not going to start shit if he can avoid it. He wants too much to work  _ with  _ people. Which means  _ somebody’s _ gotta remind these cats it’s not all about bureaucratic maneuvering.”

“ _ That  _ is true,” Relena acknowledged with an air of defeat. She then quickly diverted the conversation, “Which means you all will be ready for a vacation this summer, right?”

A chorus of agreement from across the board. “Right. The  _ point  _ of the call,” Quatre noted.

“Before you all started talking shop,” Heero noted. Beside him, Duo returned an exaggerated wince. On-screen, Relena did much the same.

“I like it when they talk shop though,” Hilde argued, raising a brown bottle to her lips. “Makes me feel way more in-tune with everything going on.”

“Hey, cheers Hil,” Trowa acknowledged, raising his water bottle in a long-distance toast. He felt much the same as she did. It was easy to slip into his own world, forgetting the machinations going on in the wings back in Brussels. It was a line of work he never wanted to be a part of...but was glad to know a few who were.

Relena pressed on. In the adjacent box on Trowa’s computer screen, Wufei’s gaze turned inward and away, letting her lead. “We really do want this to be a  _ vacation  _ for all of us. Going off the grid and things like that. But we talked and we also really want to keep this in the family. Which means we may need to ask you to help—”

“Oh  _ please  _ say I get to take your pictures!” Trowa demanded. Pressing the palms of his hands together before him as if in prayer before the camera. 

Wufei laughed, clearly startled by the directness. “Well, that was easy.”

Trowa punched the air in victory while Relena grinned back at him. On-screen, Hilde clapped her hands and leaned forward. “Tell us what else we can do to help get you hitched!”

“We have the location secured, and it will just be us, but...we’ll need transportation—”

“If  _ only  _ we knew  _ someone  _ who had a  _ private jet  _ on  _ stand-by _ …”

Quatre smiled and nodded. “On it.”

“And Heero,” Relena jumped in, “although everyone will know each other, my mother still has a bit of a traditionalist flair. She may ask for a ‘Best Man’ speech regardless of the fact that the wedding party are also the only guests…”

“Mission accepted.”

“If Heero’s Best Man to both of you, does that mean he has to run from one side to the other half-way through the ceremony?” Hilde asked, raising a hand and extending two of her fingers to pantomime little legs hustling across the screen. 

“Don’t tempt me,” Heero cautioned. Beside him, Duo snorted.

Relena chuckled but then grew serious once more. “Duo, we were hoping  _ you’d  _ be the one to officiate the ceremony.”

“Wait, wait,” Duo answered, sitting up straighter. “You want  _ me _ to actually marry you two?” He worried his lip between his teeth as he considered the proposal. “I don’t...I don’t think I’m exactly qualified for that…”

“You’re not. At the moment,” Wufei said. “There’s a certification process to make it legal.”

“Of course there’s a licensing process,” Heero muttered, rolling his eyes. To the group he said, “He’ll do it. If there’s a certification, he’ll do it.”

Duo started to chuckle. “What’re you saying? All those other certs are for flying machines!” Flipping his palm over between himself and Heero, he mimicked reviewing a piece of paper. “One of these things is not like the others.”

Heero raised a hand and ticked things off a list with a flip of his wrist. “CX-1L. J39C. Pastor, non-denominational. Z90-T…”

Duo buried his face in his hands and laughed, his shoulders shaking. Recovering somewhat, he gave them all a thumbs-up. “Roger that,” Duo said, still laughing as he pulled his hand away. His cheeks had flushed red, clearly touched but unable to tell them so. Trowa smiled to see it. “Send—send me the information. I’ll get started tonight.”

“What about me?” Hilde asked, bouncing in her seat before the camera.

Relena’s smile turned predatory. “I have a  _ secret  _ mission for you. I’ll send you a note about it separately.”

Cacophony rose from the rest of the crew dialed into the call, in rapid succession: 

“We didn’t discuss a ‘secret’ mission. What are you—?”

“What’s the ‘secret’ mission?”

“Why aren’t  _ we  _ allowed to know?”   


“Does this have something to do with Wufei? It does, doesn’t it!”

“I can count on one hand possible secret missions and  _ all of them  _ have to do with Wufei!”

_ “ _ **_What_ ** _ secret mission, Relena?” _


	4. Chapter 4

**Duo and Heero’s Apartment  
** **Brussels, Belgium  
** **2 May 211**

All couples fought. Objectively, Heero knew this. 

_ Subjectively,  _ he thought Duo was being an idiot. 

It had been something small and inconsequential that had set Heero off too, but he had put Duo in his sights at the first opportunity all the same. Duo’s initial bewilderment and concern had been quickly overcome by his frustration, however, and the two of them had fought. Then Duo fled the scene to clear his head, as was his usual response to such situations, and Heero lapsed into stony silence.

They would reconcile the moment Duo returned, Heero knew. Never go to sleep angry, and all that. But for now, Heero stewed in his anger and let a bitter taste settle in the back of his throat. It was good to be angry, sometimes. It reminded him that there was more to  _ feel _ than what his daily life usually permitted him and the stark explosion of  _ red  _ that had flooded his vision had been — in hindsight — as beautiful as it had been frightening. Powerful. He studied it. Faded and dull now, it still lingered on the edges, drifting in and out of focus.

As he tapped his pen against the blank page of the journal before him, his eyes drifted to the notebook Duo had given him for Christmas.  _ Fill the pages _ , it had urged but it hadn’t told him with what...

Heero snapped the journal shut and pushed it aside, reaching instead for Duo’s notebook and set it before him. Opening to a blank page, he closed his eyes and studied the  _ red  _ again. 

And then he set his pen to the page and let the words flow.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Rosewood Hotel  
** **Vientiane, Laos  
** **3 June 211**

With his back pressed against the door to his hotel room, Trowa held his phone before him and pleaded with whatever higher power was listening that someone would answer. Someone  _ had  _ to answer.  _ Duo  _ had to answer. He scratched at his jaw as he waited, coarse hair prickling against his fingertips. 

The phone rang four times and Trowa was about to hang up when the call finally connected. “Hey!” Duo said, sounding a bit breathless. When Trowa commented on as much, Duo dismissed it. “I heard it from the kitchen. Had to bolt across the apartment. What’s up?”

“I’m sorry to interrupt your domesticity but I had to call you,” Trowa told him. “Do you have video?”

“Yeah, hold on. Let me…” Over the audio there was the sound of movement and a few dull clicks. Within seconds, Duo appeared on Trowa’s mobile screen. His curiosity was evident. “What’s all this about? Heero’s not here, by the way. He’s in Geneva visiting Wufei.”

Trowa shook his head, fighting a smile. “No, it had to be  _ you specifically _ . You’re the only one of our group who I think would truly appreciate any of this.”

Duo’s curiosity only grew with that and he offered up a Cheshire grin of his own. “Lay it on me. What’s up?”

“You know how I’ve been traipsing around the jungles of Southeast Asia, yes?”

“Yeah. We’ve been tracking your movements.”

Trowa snorted. “That’s creepy in principle, but it’s you guys, so thanks.” Duo’s grin only widened and so Trowa pressed onward. “I have been kicking around in the backwoods and look like this , ” he said, gesturing to his unshaven face, “and baths have been few and far between. I am not fit for pleasant company at the moment.”

“Copy.”

“Well on this excursion, Quatre wanted to help. And I let him, but within certain parameters. ‘Cause you have to rein him ometimes.”

“More than just ‘sometimes’ but continue,” Duo answered, chuckling.

“I let him cover the lodging for one stop. The final stop. And I gave him permission to spend  _ just  _ to what my maximum expense was for this trip, which wasn’t going to get him much. So I figured this would  _ organically  _ limit his options and if he wanted to do right by the terms I had set, he’d abide by it.”

“Did he not?” Duo asked, sounding concerned.

Trowa smirked. “We’re getting to that.” Pressing his shoulders harder back into the door behind him, he continued, “So I get to the address he gave me, and it is a  _ nice  _ place. And the staff greets me and is pleasant and cordial and all that. I think it’s a bit odd, but I brush it off. Basement prices and last minute deals...standard protocol and etiquette...whatever. But one of the staff — a senior guy, I think — escorts me over to the elevators. I can only imagine what he thought, looking at me. But he takes me over and hits the button for the top floor.

“And  _ now  _ I’m beginning to get suspicious because the only way I would be heading to the penthouse level was if this guy was going to throw me off the roof.” Trowa paused as Duo burst into laughter. A wide smile of his own emerged as he thought back over the last hour of his life. Once Duo recovered, Trowa continued, “We get up here and he escorts me to my room. This room, the one I’m in now. And I — I just — _ fuck _ — do you wanna see it?”

“Yes, I do, oh God…” 

Trowa slid his finger over the mobile’s screen and flipped the video feed around to show the entryway to the Presidential Suite. “ _ This  _ will be my accomodations for the next four nights,” Trowa said, striding forward and retracing his footsteps from earlier. 

The entryway fanned out into a wide and welcoming living area with tall ceilings — “You have a chandelier, Jesus Christ!” — and soft hues juxtaposed with intricate woodwork. A sitting area, a dining area, a work space...all marked with state-of-the-art technology and delicate elegance. Though he knew Duo couldn’t smell it, the scent of fresh flowers drifted through the open floor plan. Moving through the suite, Trowa took Duo with him to the bathroom — “Pretty sure all five of us could sit in that tub together...” — and then onward to the bedroom — “You have a canopy bed what the everloving fuck?” — and then back to the sitting area. Trowa dropped down onto one of the couches and flipped the video feed around to face him once again.

“There is  _ no way _ he got all of that for your budget,” Duo asserted.

“He did.”

“Bullshit. How?”

Trowa smirked. “I called him right after I did my first walk-through, before calling you. Was ready to be angry with him. You know what he said? He said that he  _ did  _ only pay what I told him to, as instructed...but I never said anything about not using  _ hotel reward points.  _ Apparently he has enough accrued to reserve the Presidential Suite pretty much  _ anywhere _ . He’s just never had a reason to use them.”

“Sneaky, sneaky.”

“I know.” Trowa’s smile softened then, thinking back to the call with Quatre. The man had been so earnest in his intentions and…oddly shy. As if he knew he had risked Trowa’s ire by navigating the loophole, but had at the same time hoped that perhaps Trowa would accept the luxury, just this once. 

“You know what’s weird?” Trowa asked, but didn’t wait for an answer. “I’m not even mad. I think it’s...kinda...sweet.” He worried his lower lip between his teeth and couldn’t quite meet Duo’s gaze. “So I’m either losing my edge. Or…” 

When he didn’t finish his thought, there was a beat of shared contemplative silence. And then Duo said, “Go with ‘or.’”

Trowa sighed. “‘Or’ comes with a bunch of other shit that I...I’m not sure if…”  _ If I’m ready for. If he would want. If we could make work.  _ Trowa shook his head again. “Can I tell you a secret?”

“Of course.”

“At the core of it, I never stopped loving him.” Trowa clenched his teeth and struggled to swallow past the lump forming in his throat. He looked out at the massive room before him, anything to avoid turning his eyes to his friend on-screen. He knew Duo would see straight through to his most vulnerable places; it was a skill few possessed with such accuracy. 

After a time, Duo spoke. “I won’t pretend to be an expert in love and relationships,” he began, “but Quatre’s always  _ giving  _ things. I mean...shit, when I first got the job with Reuson years ago, Quatre bought me seven fuckin’ suits like it was nothing because he didn’t want me rolling in with my behind-the-scenes wardrobe. He wanted people to  _ see me.  _ And he wanted to give me something that would help.

“It took me a long time for me to be okay with that, the  _ giving _ ,” Duo continued. “Call it a cultural disconnect, but I was always trying to repay him somehow and he would never let me. But one day I guess it just kinda clicked. And I understood. Quatre  _ gives  _ because he loves you. It’s how he shows he cares. He’d hollow himself out if it meant you would feel loved for it. 

“But no matter how much he loves me or any of the others,” Duo said, his tone lightening and a smile slowly creeping back onto his face, “he’s not gonna empty out his rewards account to land me the Presidential Suite all on my lonesome. So. Take  _ that  _ to the bank...and see where it goes.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Fire & Lace, Central Shopping Plaza  
** **L2-V10328  
** **1 July 211**

“That one makes your tits look fantastic.”

Relena snorted as she ran her hands over the lace corset while Hilde’s reflection gave her a thumbs up in the mirror, dutifully serving as both her motivator and her sounding board. She wasn’t wrong; however… “As pretty as it is,” Relena replied, turning to look over her shoulder at the other woman who sat cross-legged on a plush pink bench behind her, “I’m not going to be patient enough to bother with the hooks and the straps, and certainly will not be coordinated enough to pull it together on my own.”

Hilde grinned in that devilish way that seemed inherent to anyone out of L2. “You could have him help you put it on and then take it all off again. Make him work for the evening.”

Relena did laugh at this, mental images dancing behind her eyes at the suggestion. “He’d be equal parts confused and frustrated, which isn’t the feeling I’m going for on our wedding night.”

Something in Hilde’s eyes flashed at that. “I note with great amusement that you specify ‘the wedding night,’ which sounds to me like delayed gratification is still on the table for any  _ other  _ night. We may need to make an additional stop on this secret mission.”

“Yes, we might,” Relena agreed and set to work freeing herself from the corset while Hilde pulled others they had grabbed in the ‘no’ pile, chuckling darkly. 

As she had promised months prior, Relena had had a secret mission for Hilde: wedding night wingman. As the months since the engagement ticked by and arrangements had been finalized, Relena had realized with surprise and no small amount of disappointment how few of their guests could fulfill the role. She had been so nervous to ask her, fearing that perhaps their friendship was not quite to that point yet.

Her concerns, clearly, had been all for naught. 

“What about this one?” Hilde asked, holding out a satin and lace slip. “Easy-on, easy-off. No fuss.” As Relena took the garment and slid it over her head, Hilde added, “The main point is for you to feel sexy  _ and comfortable _ , remember. You should step out of your boudoir looking like a goddess and feeling like a badass.”

“In that case...” Relena began and turned to look at herself in the mirror. Yes, this would do. “Go get me something red to wear underneath it.”

“Red?” When Relena nodded, Hilde stood with a salute and stepped outside of the fitting room.


	7. Chapter 7

**Private Island [location redacted]  
** **Fiji, South Pacific  
** **8 August 211**

Wufei stood at the bay window in the plantation house and watched the rain. They had been fortunate the last week or so to have nothing but sun; seemed appropriate the clouds would eventually roll in. 

The announcement of their engagement had come just in time for him and Relena to make themselves scarce, disappearing from the public eye altogether and fleeing to the small island in the South Pacific.  _ Their  _ small island, to be more precise. The owners had been of the Sanq Kingdom old guard and long-time friends of the Darlians. When Mareen Darlian had approached them about the arrangements for their holiday, they had been more than happy to relinquish the spit of land as well as the bungalows and plantation house which stood upon it to them in entirety. Off the grid and miles and miles away from prying eyes, it was a respite he knew would be a rare privilege going forward. 

Going forward… Going forward things were going to change.  _ They already have,  _ he thought as he reflected on the last few days. 

He had arrived on-island alongside Relena and Mareen. Lucrezia Noin had joined them a day later. His meeting with her had been cordial but tense. It had been like seeing a ghost and he had wondered if seeing him in the flesh after all these years had brought back the same painful memories for her as it had for him. 

It took a day to be reacquainted. A second to observe one another interact with the Darlian women. A third before they had actually sat down and talked with one another unsupervised. By the end of the week, however, the two of them had been trading barbs with one another as if they had known each other for years, as if they were...family. 

A voice from behind interrupted his musings. “Do I need to remind you that you are technically on vacation and you should be barred from getting up this damn early?”

_ Shuō Cáo Cāo... _ [1] Wufei turned to find Noin crossing the main living area with a pair of steaming mugs in hand. When she reached his side, she passed one to him which he gladly accepted. “I’ll stop getting up early when you do.” 

Noin rolled her eyes and sighed before turning her attention to the storm outside. They lapsed into a comfortable silence, sipping their coffee and listening to the rain lash the window before them. “Remind me: when does the rest of the group get here?”

“Une and Sally won't get here until a few days before the wedding,” Wufei told her, “but the rest will be here tomorrow.”

Beside him, Noin nodded as she considered this. “Think the rain will hold up?”

“It might, judging by the forecasts I’ve seen. Not enough to delay their arrival, but enough to be... _ unpleasant  _ upon arrival.”

After a beat, she said, “If you want help sabotaging their jeeps down at the airstrip, let me know.”

Wufei chuckled darkly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] 说曹操，曹操到 (shuō Cáo Cāo, Cáo Cāo dào) literally means “Speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives” in Mandarin. It’s an idiom which is the equivalent of “speak of the Devil.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Private Island [location redacted]  
** **Fiji, South Pacific  
** **9 August 211**

The flight down to Fiji had been pleasant enough, despite the storms. It was hard to complain about a private jet packed with only your closest friends. 

The arrival…less so.

Two jeeps had been parked on the flightline, as Wufei had said there would be. They had collectively grabbed their bags from the storage compartment and fled the tarmac, piling into the vehicles and hoping for a quick ride to their base of operations for the duration of their stay.

...only to find an ominous note taped to both steering wheels. 

“Oh no,” Duo murmured from the passenger seat next to Trowa, who turned the key to the ignition only to hear...nothing. 

“Assholes,” Trowa muttered as he tried the engine again to no avail. In the backseat, Heero groaned. 

Trowa glanced over at the other jeep to find Quatre already out in the rain while Hilde slid across to the driver’s seat. Blazer discarded somewhere in the vehicle, Quatre rolled up his shirt sleeves as he moved around to the front of the jeep and popped the hood. 

With a disheartened sigh, Trowa opened his own door. Over the roar of the downpour, he told Duo and Heero, “Stay here and man the wheel.” 

“Roger that,” Duo acknowledged and climbed over the stick to take his recently vacated seat. 

Trowa tipped his head back and glared up at the sky before walking to the front of his own jeep and lifting the hood. Off to his side, Quatre was elbows-deep in the vehicle’s inner workings already. “Am I allowed to hate the groom?” Trowa asked him. 

Quatre laughed, sounding far too delighted considering their circumstances. “I don’t think you’re allowed to hate Wufei, no. Certainly not the week of his nuptials.”

“Even when he sabotages our rides?”

“Even then.” Quatre looked up then and Trowa spotted the devilish gleam in his eyes. “Race you to the finish.”

It only took a second’s consideration. “You’re on.”

Thunder rumbled through the clouds overhead as they worked, pride now very much on the line. Soaked to the bone, Trowa forced his attention wholly on the task before him. But every solution he tried seemed wrong. He was missing something.  _ Think like Wufei,  _ he told himself, but he grew increasingly frustrated as the fix that would resuscitate their otherwise dead ride eluded him. 

Then from the corner of his eye, he watched Quatre pull back. Raising a hand high enough over the hood of the jeep to be seen, he gave Hilde a thumbs up. Ignition. Life. 

_ Shit.  _ “What — Hey!” Trowa babbled. Quatre only laughed at him as he dropped the hood down. “Are you gonna at least tell me how you fixed it?”

“No,” Quatre told him as he opened the driver’s side door to his and Hilde’s jeep. “Where’s the fun in that?”


	9. Chapter 9

**Private Island [location redacted]  
** **Fiji, South Pacific  
** **10 August 211**

Relena sat in the small sunroom, tucked away in what now felt like the only quiet place on the entire property. Despite each of their guests being granted private accommodations in the bungalows on the property, the plantation house had become the center of gravity for all of them. Laughter and merrymaking drifted through the plantation house and made her smile: their little family was nearly complete. Nearly, but truthfully wouldn’t be, not really. It was an odd feeling, to have one’s heart warmed by the love that enveloped them and yet fight the deep ache in her chest. She brushed at the hot tears that welled in her eyes and turned her attention back to the pictures before her. 

She and Wufei had set aside this room to serve as a small shrine to their absent loved ones who had departed before their time. Pictures, candles, and incense paid homage to her father, to Wufei’s colonial dead...and to his first wife, Long Meilan. 

Wufei hadn’t had much in terms of keepsakes beyond what he had taken with him into the fight; but one dog-eared picture of the girl had survived all these years later. The girl glowered at Relena from the image, frozen in time with all her youthful fire simmering behind dark eyes. 

“Wufei told me about your spirit,” she murmured to the girl in the photo, “that you helped keep him going. That you gave him strength to keep fighting, even after the war. I wanted to thank you for that. He’s here because you helped him do that, in your own way. He’s the man I love because of that strength, that fire that he swears he got from you.

“But there’s a vulnerability to him too,” Relena continued. “I don’t think either of you could have fully understood it at the time. You were just children, and sometimes we think in absolutes when we’re so young. But I love his vulnerability as much as I do his strength, his intellect.”

Relena lapsed into silence, staring down the photo of the little girl in pigtails. She was a firecracker, that was clear. Relena smiled to herself, wondering what it would have been like to know the girl, to grow up with her, to raise her. She huffed a dry laugh. “You gave them all a run for their money, didn’t you?” she asked the photograph. “Me too.” 

She leaned forward then, and rested her elbows on her knees. “Meilan, I hope you rest well. I pray you’ll support this wedding and ask that you’ll do me the honor of allowing me to marry him and live out the rest of my days beside him. Permit me to honor your memory by giving my heart to him.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Private Island [location redacted]  
** **Fiji, South Pacific  
** **12 August 211**

“You’re in my sun,” Quatre said with a grimace, his eyes still closed, to the shadow looming over him. Hilde snorted where she lay beside him while the shadow chuckled and moved away. Quatre blinked an eye open to watch Trowa sit down in the sand next to them. 

“My apologies,” Trowa said as he crossed his legs before him. 

It was then that Quatre noticed the spear in Trowa’s hand had not come back empty. “Is that a fish?”

“Yeah,” Trow answered with a lazy shrug, as if spearfishing was something everyone did in their spare time. 

“You caught a fish.”

“ _ Killed  _ a fish may be more accurate.”

Hilde laughed and pushed herself up onto her elbows. “Hunter-gathering instincts engaged. That’s all manner of hot.”

“I concur,” Quatre said with a smirk. He closed his eyes once more. “Plus five points.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Private Island [location redacted]  
** **Fiji, South Pacific  
** **13 August 211**

Walking beside Wufei, Relena watched Heero and Duo where they walked several yards ahead of them along the beach. Heero kicked water up from the tiny waves that washed past his ankles and Duo shied away, dropping back several steps only to laugh and jump up onto Heero’s back. Heero carried him for several strides, apparently without any real exertion, before Duo appeared to grow weary of the piggyback ride and slid down his body until his feet met the sand below. Heero’s hand then sought Duo’s and they kissed, standing there in the surf, sea foam bubbling around their ankles.

They parted to walk hand-in-hand together on the beach until the game started again. Laughter drifted back to Relena and Wufei on the ocean breeze.

“You know,” Relena began, “sometimes you can pretend we all met at university or a bar or — Hell — through a speed dating event…not through a war.”

Wufei contemplated his friends and mulled over her words. “Living with Heero, knowing how close he and Duo always were, watching them now like this…it’s easy to forget about the training, the conditioning, what we all went through before and during the war.” He glanced at her but quickly turned his dark eyes to the sea. “I’m thirty. Sometimes I feel like I’m twice that. But other times…when I’m watching the others, or when I’m with you—” He turned his eyes back to Relena. She smiled and he smiled back, looking away again, “—I remember how much more there is that I haven’t seen or experienced. It’s heartening to know that the future really is open.”

Relena grinned and took his hand, craning her neck up to drop a kiss to his cheek. 


	12. Chapter 12

**Private Island [location redacted]  
** **Fiji, South Pacific  
** **14 August 211**

Une and Sally arrived on-island to blue skies, a functioning jeep, and a personal escort by Lucrezia Noin. They each embraced her on the flightline before hauling their bags out of the storage compartment and making their way to Noin’s vehicle. 

“How has the week been so far?” Sally asked as she climbed into the back, Une sliding into the passenger seat as Noin started the engine. 

“Eventful,” Noin answered, which garnered knowing chuckles from the other two. She grinned. “I don’t think I’ve seen Mareen laugh as often as she has with the whole group here. Hilde is delightful —you’ll both like her—but the five of  _ them  _ and Relena too...they’re a handful. Even so, it’s been a lot of fun. I’m glad you could come out for a few days ahead of the wedding itself.”

“Sounds like a full house.”

“It is...but we thankfully have put all of you up in your own bungalows. Hope that’s alright.”

“I imagine we won’t be spending much time there as it stands,” Une mused.

Noin shook her head as she navigated the island roads. “Probably not, judging by how the past week has gone. We’ve all usually been on the beach, in the jungle, or in the plantation house. The bungalows just offer an extra layer of nighttime privacy is all.” 

“I appreciate that,” Sally told her from the back and Noin caught the sultry look she shot Une, who did her best not to acknowledge it.


	13. Chapter 13

**Private Island [location redacted]  
** **Fiji, South Pacific  
** **15 August 211**

“So...what  _ do  _ you do instead?”

Duo smirked at Sally, taking a swallow from his coffee mug. “Usually people who ask us that question are being rude, but I know you and know that’s not the case. So I’ll let you in on a game Heero and I like to play when we get asked called, ‘101 Things I’d  _ Rather  _ Do Than Have Sex.’” Sally nodded as she followed along. “Rules are easy,” Duo explained. “Heero and I will bounce ideas back and forth—ideally getting progressively more ridiculous—until one of us breaks, thereby losing the game.”

“Like?"

“Like white-water rafting,” Duo said.

“Or skydiving,” Heero offered without hesitation, and thus the game began.

“Hiking the Andes.”

“Staying in a monastery.”

“Retrofitting a DX-72.”

At Duo’s suggestion, several members of their little family who were within earshot hummed in approval. Trowa snickered and said only, “See now you’re talking  _ my  _ language.” 

“Drag racing with said DX-72.”

“Opening a distillery.”

“Adopting a pet rock named George.”

“And don’t worry guys,” Duo interjected. “We left him with an  _ excellent  _ sitter.” He glanced sidelong at Heero and saw him bite his lower lip to keep from grinning.  _ Ah, nearly. Nearly. _

But then Heero delivered the killing blow: “Learning to breakdance.”

Duo snorted into his coffee, promptly losing all composure and the game. As he and others laughed, he scrubbed at his eyes, wholly unable to get the mental image out of his head. “Dammit,” he cursed and turned to Heero. “You win this round, Yuy. Next time I’ll beat you for sure.”

“I look forward to it,” Heero told him and gave him a coy smile over the rim of his coffee mug.


	14. Chapter 14

**Private Island [location redacted]  
** **Fiji, South Pacific  
** **16 August 211**

“It’s about that time.”

Noin looked up to find Duo Maxwell’s retreating form and caught the gesture: he tapped his wrist insistently as he backed away. She hummed in acknowledgement and threw back the last of her wine. “It  _ is  _ about that time,” she agreed as she stood and followed him to the front of the room under the watchful eye of Mareen and several other curious guests. Once in position, Noin addressed the group. “Hey, pipe down. We are officially within the final countdown of the wedding, which means we have some ground rules to go over.”

“By order of Camp Mom,” Duo began with a head tip to Mareen, “we’re to separate you for some predetermined amount of time before your actual wedding. Tradition is twenty-four hours in advance. But we figured, why stop at twenty-four when we could have thirty-six.” The couple immediately protested. Duo smirked.

“Watch it, or it’ll be forty-eight,” Noin threatened.

“Yeah, we’re not exactly on someone else’s timeline,” Duo added, “so we could technically delay the wedding without much fuss.” Relena snapped her mouth shut while Wufei shook with silent laughter beside her, the two of them too stunned to argue the point further. Protests silenced for now, Duo pressed onward. “As I was saying before being so  _ rudely  _ interrupted...starting at 22:00 tonight, you are officially barred from seeing each other.”

“From that point onward, Wufei,” Noin jumped in, “you’ll be relegated to dealing with your fellow pilots for the duration of time ahead of the nuptials. Apologies in advance: I can’t be held accountable for anything they do.” The statement was met with a smattering of laughter from the group. She then turned to the bride-to-be. “Relena, you’ll be with the rest of us. Originally we were considering doing some battle of the sexes thing, but ultimately decided against it.”

“They would’ve won,” Duo told the other pilots in no uncertain terms. “We’ve built your itineraries to prevent any accidental rendezvous, but we’re barring electronic communications too just to be on the safe side. So don’t get sneaky, trying to tap in morse code on the pipes or some bullshit.”

Noin then added, “You are, however, allowed to send messages to one another through your respective runners.”

“Runners?”

“You’ll each have a member of your group tasked with carrying messages back and forth at a moment’s notice,” Noin explained. “Sally for Relena, and Heero for Wufei.”

“Yeah, so write early and often,” Duo added.

“Oh hey now,” Sally protested weakly from her seat beside Une, who chuckled.

The MCs both ignored her. Noin looked at her watch. “You two have precisely...thirty-six minutes before you must bid each other  _ adieu _ until the wedding.” She glanced up at the couple with a playful grin. “I recommend you make the most of it before we break you apart.”

Without any further prompting, Relena grabbed Wufei’s hand, hauled him to his feet, and bolted from the room to the rest of the group’s great amusement.


	15. Chapter 15

**Private Island [location redacted]  
** **Fiji, South Pacific  
** **17 August 211**

**_BANG!_ **

Relena jumped out of her skin, half-asleep. “Rise and shine!” Hilde cried as she burst into the room through the now-open door and jumped on the bed.

Relena groaned and collapsed back against her pillows. She dared to glance at the bedside clock and groaned again. “It’s three in the morning. What the hell…?”

“We’ve got places to go,” Sally answered as she came into view, Noin poking her head around the door jamb behind her. 

“Where—?”

“It’s a surprise!” Hilde said. Sliding off the bed, she unceremoniously shucked the comforter off. “Come on! Up! Dressed! Let’s go!” 

With great reluctance, Relena dragged herself out of bed and stumbled bleary-eyed into the attached bathroom to find a set of hiking clothes already set out and waiting. Dread slowly wrapped itself around her brain. A hike. Before dawn. Relena took a steadying breath and changed, muttering half-hearted curses to herself.

When she emerged she found her de facto entourage in the kitchen. Sally, Hilde, and Noin hovered over what looked like a map while her mother and Une stood nearby, filling water bottles at the sink and checking headlamps. “We’re really going out this early?” Relena asked, stunned.

“Only way to catch the sunrise,” Mareen told her.

“Are you coming with us?”

Her mother scoffed. “Oh no. I’m heading back to bed. But  _ you  _ need to catch the sunrise. Now off you go!”

* * *

Whispers and stifled laughter alerted Wufei to the impending onslaught. His skin itched as he allowed his assailants to draw in close, tiptoeing towards his bed. He kept his eyes shut, until he sensed a body hovering just over his head before giving himself away with a dangerous growl. “Don’t you fucking dare.”

Laughter met his warning and he opened his eyes to find Quatre standing over him, air horn at the ready. Wufei’s eyes went wide even as Quatre tipped his head back and laughed, withdrawing several paces. 

“Ah damn, he’s awake already!” Duo hissed, standing toward the foot of the bed next to Trowa. 

“Can I still hit him with the horn?” Quatre asked.

“You may  _ absolutely not _ ,” Wufei answered, sitting up in bed and pushing his back up against the headboard, almost defensively. Quatre just laughed harder. It was then that he registered Heero hovering by the door. “Yuy, you encouraged this?” he asked, offended.

“From a safe distance away yes,” Heero admitted.

“From outside of the kill zone,” Trowa amended.

“So he thinks,” Wufei answered, glaring at his once-roommate and turning his attention back to Quatre who had started sneaking in closer again. “Don’t.” Quatre wilted, giggling.

“Come on,” Duo said, clapping his hands before him. “Up and at ‘em. We’ve got a lot to do today and a very strict schedule to do it in, lest we run you two lovebirds into each other. Let’s get a move on!”

* * *

The sun swept in over the horizon in bands of red and gold, burning away the violet twilight as the ocean shimmered beneath. A stunning sight from the highest point of their bit of land in the Pacific. 

They had spent the better part of the morning trekking through the pre-dawn forest, the hiking trail lit only by their headlamps. Still half-asleep, Relena had trudged up the side of the peak in the middle of their single-file line and had spent much of the walk wishing to go back to her warm bed. 

But when they had reached the peak and the overlook worn flat with time, Relena breathed deep and sighed even deeper. “Alright,” Relena admitted as the sun rose before them, “this was worth it.”

“So worth it,” Hilde agreed.

The crew set down their packs to simply watch the dawn in silence for a time, captivated. Once there was enough ambient light to see without the headlamps, however, Une unfolded a blanket and Noin opened her pack to withdraw the makings of breakfast. Fruit and pastries and a thermos of coffee made the rounds among them while they laughed easily and stifled yawns.

“This is fun,” Relena said, her eyes on the sky as it gave way to hints of the blue to come.

“That’s the idea,” Noin said. 

Relena could hear the smile in her voice and it made her grin.

* * *

Wufei’s morning had been spent weaving through the trees in parallel to the beach before turning up a path that led further inland as the early morning sky climbed higher in the sky. He and his group navigated the slick trail until it opened out onto a clearing before a waterfall and a pool that glistened as the sun crested the tree canopy. It was something out of a storybook, though Wufei would never say as much and bit the inside of his cheek to keep from giving himself away.

They had wasted no time removing their packs and clothes, dropping them unceremoniously at the edge of the water before jumping in for a swim. Before long they were goading one another to climb the waterfall. Barton was the first and all but volunteered—repeatedly—for the honor, but others soon followed, including Wufei himself after a time. 

Refreshed and relaxed, they eventually returned to the shoreline and dried off, unpacking their supplies. They made short work of their breakfasts, tossing playful barbs between each other as they ate. It had been a pleasant start to the day, and certainly not anything Wufei had expected when they left the plantation and its bungalows behind. 

Which made him suspicious. “I’m fairly convinced this is all a trick and the worst is yet to come,” Wufei said, eying Duo.

“Ah, come on. Would I do that?”

The four other men agreed unanimously: “Yes.” The response only made Duo laugh.

“You do have a bit of a sadistic streak,” Quatre added.

Duo smirked. “Speaking of…” He pulled a piece of paper he’d sealed in plastic and checked the watch he had stashed in an outer pocket of his bag. His grin turned devilish. “This would be a  _ great time _ to send a message to the fiancee.”

Beside him, Heero groaned.

* * *

“Incoming,” Sally declared with a wide grin. 

Relena looked down the line of her compatriots as they carefully made their way deeper into the forest from the rockier peaks. Up ahead she could see flashes of color between the heavy green leaves and someone darted up the trail toward them. As the runner closed in and rounded a corner, they found themselves face-to-face with none other than Heero Yuy. The man huffed as he reached them, cheeks red and skin glistening from the exertion. 

“Your boyfriends an asshole,” Une declared to him.

“A  _ sadistic  _ asshole,” Noin added, sounding at least somewhat apologetic.

“We were just discussing that, yes,” Heero told them between gasps. He swallowed and took a deep breath, slowly exhaling it through pursed lips as he walked to Relena’s side. When he spoke again, he seemed to have recovered. “Message for you.”

He passed her a glass bottle with a cork stopper. Inside were what looked like several sheets of loose leaf paper curled tightly around themselves and bound with a red ribbon. A pen rattled beside them. Incredulous and endeared, Relena took the bottle and looked up at Heero, “Really?”

Heero huffed a laugh. “Yes, really.” He stepped back and withdrew a water bottle from his pack and took several large gulps. 

Relena meanwhile uncorked the bottle and shook out both the paper and the pen, untying the ribbon to see what her fiance had seen fit to send her.

_ Rumor says your morning started much earlier than mine.  
_ _ I hope you’re enjoying yourself.  _

_ Try to send Heero back in one piece. _

_ Miss you. Love you. Excited for tomorrow. _

_ W _

Relena felt her cheeks warm and laughed softly, running her thumbs over the paper in her hands.  _ How domestic and sweet,  _ she thought. She bit her lip and considered her reply. And then—“Hilde, drop your bag. I need to borrow your back so that my handwriting is at least somewhat legible.” The request garnered some amused laughter from her cohort. Heero only secured his water bottle once more and started to stretch. 

_ I can assure you Heero arrived in one piece,   
_ _ but I take no responsibility for the state of his return.  _

_ The group woke me at 3AM to go on a hike. I don’t plan on doing that again.   
_ _ The waking up before dawn piece, I mean.   
_ _ The hike we should do again together, once they’ve all gone.  _

_ I don’t know where you are or where we’re going next,   
_ _ but if the start of the day is any indication I think I’ll sleep well tonight. _

_ Maybe that’s part of their plan... _

_ Miss you. Love you. Excited for tomorrow. _

_ R _

Satisfied, Relena twisted the pen shut and recurled the pages, binding them once more in their red ribbon before dropping both items into the bottle. She tapped the cork into place and passed the bottle to Heero. 

He took it with a nod and turned to walk back down the hill from which he’d come. “You know where you’re going?” Noin asked as he passed. Heero gave her a half-hearted salute before breaking out into a steady run, his feet pounding the soft earth beneath him. And then he was gone, lost to the forest.

* * *

Wufei and the rest of his escorts burst out of the cover of the forest canopy and into the midday sun on the beach. Far away from the plantation, they meandered along the beach. Low tide had left rocky outcroppings exposed and crabs scuttled across swaths of sand. 

Eventually, they approached one such outcropping that was larger than the rest and tucked up against a cliff face. Only when they reached it did Wufei realize they were staring at the mouth of a natural grotto, exposed only due to their good timing. Safely tucked away from the blistering heat, but close enough to the waterline that the shallow cave smelled like sea salt...but not oppressively so. It smelled ancient and alive. Rich.

As the rest of the group stepped inside, chatting excitedly about the lucky find, Wufei cast his eyes to Duo. He found him watching him closely, as if waiting for a reaction. Wufei smiled; Duo winked. And then they both stepped inside the grotto. 

They spent their lunch tucked away in the cave, trading food and stories and making friends with the small sea creatures that had joined them. From the mouth of the cave they watched the waves, so far away but near enough to spot the gulls and—Wufei suspected—a few dolphins.

As the sun dipped toward the west and the tide started to creep back up the beach in lazy waves, they ducked out of the grotto and headed down the beach once more. But as they walked, they spied a lone figure running in their direction. “Looks like Wufei has mail,” Quatre observed.

The group met Sally en route, to her apparent relief. “Oh good, you’re still here!” Sally sighed, her cheeks puffing with her hard exhale. “I was afraid I’d miss you.” She slowed to a walk and passed the glass bottle to Wufei. “Message delivery.”

Wufei plucked it from her fingers and opened the bottle as the others gathered together off to the side so as not to intrude. He flipped through the pages to find Relena’s new note. 

_ I’m told I’m allowed to tell you that the waterfall was beautiful,   
_ _ which means you’ve already been here!  _

_ Who was the first to jump from the top? I have to assume it was Trowa.   
_ _ Hilde was our first but you would be proud: I was our second! _

_ Miss you. Love you. Excited for tomorrow. _

_ R _

Wufei chuckled. “She went off the waterfall?” he asked.

Sally smiled. “Seconds after Hilde.  _ Seconds.  _ She was right at her heels.”

It was hardly a surprise, Wufei knew. Relena was as fearless or as crazy as the rest of them. Perhaps she was both: crazy  _ and  _ fearless. She was marrying him, after all. That gave him something to work with. 

Twisting the pen between his fingers he asked Sally, “Do you mind.” She nodded—clearly this was not the first time she’d served as a writing desk—and flattened her shoulders as he pressed the paper down and started to write.

_ Nicely done on the waterfall.   
_ _ It took more…“cajoling” to get me to do the same.  
_ _ Not sure where we’re off to next. _

_ Miss you. Love you. Excited for tomorrow. _

_ W _

_ PS: I could have deployed some horrible play on  
_ _ ‘taking the plunge’ or a ‘leap of faith,’ but I shall refrain. _

* * *

After all the trekking through the dense tropical foliage all day, Relena was happy to see the beach and its white sand. She threw her arms to the side and closed her eyes, content to let the cool sea breeze hit her cheeks and flow through her hair. It had been a wonderful day. And ending it here, out in the open with the waves crashing and the sand sun-warmed beneath them was perfect. Just what she needed. 

“We’ve still got some sunlight left,” Noin informed the group, checking her watch. “If anyone cares for a swim, recommend we do so now before sunset.” 

Relena never stripped so fast. Laughter chased her to the water, the others not far behind her as the group of them jumped into the crystal clear surf. 

Before too long however, Hilde pointed back to the beach. “You’ve got mail, Relena!”

Relena groaned and would have been happy to make Heero wait if it didn’t mean taking him away from his own bit of fun. “He has the worst timing,” she muttered, silently cursing her fiance.

“I think that depends on what he wrote.” 

She begrudgingly had to give them that. It did depend. And every message in a bottle that Relena had gotten throughout the day had made her heart lighter, her smiles brighter. With a final dramatic sigh, she trudged out of the surf and back up the beach to greet Heero at their piles of clothes.

“Sorry,” he said, as she took the bottle from his hand. 

Relena gave him a dry laugh and shook her head. “It’s fine. How are your legs holding up.” 

“Fine.” 

“Don’t tell Duo that.” 

Heero considered this and paled. “It...it may be too late for that.”

Relena laughed as she uncorked the bottle. “Best of luck to you then.” Sliding out the sheets of notes, she unspooled them all and read the latest.

_ Do you remember Iceland, and all the walking we did?  
_ _ I think I’m having flashbacks. My feet hurt so much.  
_ _ I would kill Duo if we didn’t need him tomorrow. _

_ More importantly, I think I want to go back to Iceland.  
_ _ Or go elsewhere really. I haven’t seen enough of the world,   
_ _ and I definitely haven’t seen it with you. Come with me? _

_ Miss you. Love you. Excited for tomorrow. _

_ W _

Relena bit her lip and felt her cheeks burn. “Good one?” Heero asked her, and when she looked up, she caught the knowing smile that graced his lips. He turned then, offering his back without being asked.

Recovering, she laughed. “Clearly a common request?”

“Today at least.”

Relena pressed the paper flat against his shoulders and wrote her reply. 

_ I do remember Iceland. And yes, I want to go back.  
_ _ I want to go everywhere with you. I can’t wait. _

_ Miss you. Love you. Excited for tomorrow. _

_ R _

_ PS: Don’t kill Duo. He’s the only legally certified minister on the island. _

* * *

Wufei read the note in the middle of the trail and smiled to himself. Duo had been granted a stay of execution thanks to his fiancee and ESUN law, and he’d never know. He gnawed on his lip for a moment thinking of a reply. 

_ I think we’re ending the day on the summit, judging by the steady incline.  
_ _ I can only assume you spent your sunrise up there. _ _   
_ _ I hope you had a wonderful day.  _

_ Missed seeing you.  _

_ Missed talking to you.  _

_ Missed hearing you laugh. _

_ I love you. Excited for tomorrow. _

_ W _

He slipped the paper and pen back into the bottle and handed it to Heero. “Off you go.”

Heero took the bottle but seemed numb and tragically disappointed. “But I just  _ got  _ here.”

Wufei clenched his teeth to keep from laughing. “Are you seriously going to whine about it? The sooner you leave, the sooner you get back.” 

Their runner turned to Duo—clearly hoping for a reprieve—but Duo only returned a dark smile. “Off you go.”

Heero glared at him. “You might be sleeping on the couch tonight,” he threatened while Quatre and Trowa snickered off on the sidelines.

Duo made a dramatic show of his acceptance of this blow to their relationship status with a sigh and a shrug. “I’m willing to take one for the team.”

Realizing he had already lost, Heero hung his head and turned to head back down the trail towards the beach. 

“Bye Heero,” Quatre said as the man passed. They didn’t hear Heero’s  _ exact  _ reply, but all four of them were confident it wouldn’t have been appropriate for polite company.

* * *

Wine imbibed and dinner demolished, Relena and her half of the wedding party were delightfully buzzed as the light faded around them on the beach as laughter flowed freely between them. Relena tucked herself into Noin’s side, surrounded by what she imagined a sister’s love felt like. It made her heart warm and she closed her eyes for a moment to focus on the sound of the ocean, Noin’s heartbeat against her cheek, and the voices that danced around her. 

But then there was a tap at her shoulder and the group around her erupted into surprised elation. “Heero!” 

“Heero what are you doing here?”

“They sent you out again?”

“Want some wine?”

Relena turned to indeed find Heero jogging their way, glass bottle in hand. Pulling away from Noin’s embrace, she dusted off her hands and stood to meet Heero in the sand. “They’re making you work for it,” she said.

“You could say that,” he sighed, passing her the bottle. 

Relena considered him. “You’re going to help me get the final word, Heero. Come Hell or high water,” she said, determined, and uncorked the bottle.

* * *

“Hey you made it!” Duo said, causing the rest of them to turn back. 

They found Heero making his way up the last couple meters of rock to the summit to join them. On trembling legs, he crossed the remaining distance to Wufei and handed off his precious cargo. “That is the last one,” Heero said, promptly sitting down and undoing the laces on his shoes. “I’m making an executive decision. You can suffer through until tomorrow.” He then collapsed backward with a tremendous sigh, spread-eagle, to the rest of their great amusement.

While the others laughed, Duo walked over and tapped his beau’s hip with his toe. “And you were  _ so worried  _ about missing out on training for that marathon you want to do…” Heero only groaned in reply.

Stifling his laughter, Wufei opened the bottle and slid out their notes that had accumulated over the course of the day and rifled through to Relena’s final word of the evening. 

_ The wine my cohort brought out to the beach is having its intended effect I think. _

__ I missed you today.   
_ They say absence makes the heart grow fonder.   
_ __ Maybe there’s something to that...

_ I love you. _

_ Good night. Sweet dreams. Till tomorrow. _

_ R _

_ Tomorrow.  _ It really was tomorrow. Wufei pressed his lips into a thin line to keep them from trembling, suddenly overcome with emotion. They were getting married. Tomorrow. 

As he curled the pages up and slid them back into the bottle, he became aware of the pregnant silence around him. Looking up, he found himself the center of his friends’ undivided attention. “Yes?”

To his horror, they all responded in unison, “Aw…” Even Yuy, who still lay prone in the middle of the summit. 

“Oh please,” Wufei said but then sniffed, which didn’t help his cause. The others only chuckled and approached from the sidelines. 

They shepherded him towards the edge, high over the tree canopy below and the group of them sat down together to watch the sun set.  _ Together.  _ The thought reverberated through Wufei and nearly made him shudder with its force. As the sun dipped further below the horizon, and the sky lit up in reds and violets, he chanced furtive glances at the men around him. Again that word: together. Wufei smiled and let his eyes drift to the sunset. “Thank you for being here,” he murmured. “For all of this.” Nothing more needed to be said.


	16. Chapter 16

**Private Island [location redacted]  
** **Fiji, South Pacific  
** **18 August 211**

Relena stood before the mirror as her mother secured the string of pearls around her neck. As Mareen stepped away with an appreciative hum, Relena took a moment to study her reflection. Her honey blond hair had been twisted into soft curls and then pinned up to prevent the sea breeze catching them. Her dress was short and only came to her knees, layered with tulle and lace. Her shoes were simple but stylish, fitting for their private event and a day at the beach. She smiled and turned to face her entourage, placing her hands on her hips and striking a pose. “What do you think?”

Amidst the unanimous approval, there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” Relena answered, smoothing her hands down the dress. 

At the entreaty, Heero stepped into the room but stopped short, eyes wide at the sight of her. “Wow,” he managed, but didn’t move from where he stood.

“Come  _ in _ , Heero,” Mareen told him, and Heero—seemingly embarrassed, judging by the pinched look on his face—quickly shut the door as instructed.

He took a few hesitant steps forward and opened his mouth to say something...but nothing came and so he snapped it shut once more. Relena watched the muscles in his jaw twitch a moment longer before she closed the distance that separated them. Only then did she register the glass bottle clutched in one of his hands. She smiled at it and took his free hand in hers. 

“You’re beautiful,” he said, voice soft, almost reverent. 

Relena bit her lip and smiled as she felt her cheeks start to burn. “Thank you,” she said and gave his hand a squeeze. 

They studied each other for a time, both of them wound up with emotions they couldn’t name. But then Heero took a shuddering breath and seemed to gather his composure once more. “For you,” he said, passing her the bottle.

Relena took it with a soft laugh and opened it, unfurling the message. 

_ Ich liebe dich _

_ W _

She read the words [1] and felt herself tearing up. Sniffling, she crossed to a nearby chair and sat down, taking several deep breaths amidst the concerned queries from her friends and family around her. They were getting married. He loved her. He loved her and they were getting married... _ today. _ Relena looked up to find Heero’s blue eyes looking a bit tearful as well. “I love him,” she told him, “so much.”

Heero replied, “I know. So does he.”

Relena nodded and closed her eyes, taking several deep breaths to calm herself while the others waited quietly. She was thankful for it. She didn’t think she would be able to keep herself together if they had swarmed her with their love and assurances. Taking a deep breath, she dabbed carefully at her eyes and twisted open the pen. “Sally, Heero. I’m going to need help with the reply.”

* * *

Wufei glanced up as the door to their de facto dressing room opened and Heero entered, shutting it behind him and holding the glass bottle aloft. “You were gone longer than I thought you’d be. Sorry about that.”

“No, that was on me,” Heero said, shaking his head. “Mostly.”

“‘Mostly?’” Wufei asked, an eyebrow quirking at his runner as he approached.

Heero gave him a secretive smile as he passed Wufei the bottle. “You’ll see soon enough.” 

Wufei watched him with wary eyes as Heero turned away and walked across the room. He took a seat near Trowa who was going over the final technical checks of his camera while Quatre hovered at his shoulder watching the process unfold.

Left to his own devices for a time, Wufei uncorked the bottle and unspooled the note. Relena had responded to his earlier sentiment in kind. [2]

我爱你

_ R _

They were the tentative strokes of a novice and yet Wufei couldn’t tear his eyes away, warmth spreading through his chest and into his cheeks.  _ She loves me _ , he thought, overcome.

From behind, thin arms wrapped around his waist and a pointed chin rested on his shoulder. Wufei’s grin widened. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Duo echoed, clearly reading the note too. 

“She writes like you,” Wufei teased, trying to stave off the tears that pricked at the back of his eyes.

Duo snorted. “So no awards for penmanship,” he said, giving Wufei a squeeze before withdrawing.

* * *

The group had assembled on the first floor balcony, which overlooked the plantation gardens below. Chairs had been brought outside from the house and adorned with flowers from the landscape that surrounded them, lined up in short rows to form a makeshift aisle that led to the porch railing. The wedding party had all foregone color-coded attire, but Wufei’s entourage had dressed sharply in vests and slacks all the same. 

At the end of the short aisle that connected the house to the bannister, Wufei fidgeted and Duo smirked from where he stood beside him. The moment  _ before  _ the moment of truth was always infinitely more painful. And Wufei was never really one for patience.

Duo let his eyes wander to the other guests while seconds ticked by. Trowa flitted about, snapping photos while Quatre had tucked himself in securely at Heero’s side. Hilde meanwhile was chatting amicably with Sally and Une. Mareen and Noin were presumably just inside with the bride. He smiled again and tightened his grip on the materials in his arms as a stray breeze swept across the balcony.

As it died down once more, the double doors that led back into the house opened and Relena stepped outside into the warm afternoon sun. Dress soft and delicate, smile wide, she was a sight to see. To his left, Wufei expelled a shuddering breath and Duo chanced a glance his way. The man was starstruck, cheeks flushed and eyes tearful and Relena approached down the aisle, a small bouquet of flowers clutched in her hands. She had eyes only for her fiance. Duo grinned. “Hold it together,” he hissed at Wufei, whose only visible reaction was to snap his mouth shut. 

A small eternity swept up the aisle with Relena as she walked, and yet time seemed to rush up to them like a tidal surge. What had been ‘future’ was suddenly ‘now’ and as Wufei took Relena’s hand in his, bringing her up beside him, Duo swallowed down the familiar taste of panic. 

Instead, he grinned through it and snuffed it out before it could take him. He smiled wide and welcoming as the two lovebirds struggled to remember that there was in fact a ceremony to be had. Duo took that as his cue to begin. “I don’t think I have to tell anyone why we’re here today, so we’ll skip that part of this today’s daily briefing if that’s alright with you.” The comment earned knowing chuckles from the guests and good natured eye rolls from the couple before him.

“I  _ will  _ say, however, that out of everyone here to share today with you, I’m the lucky one who actually gets to marry you. That’s a high honor coming from you both—one I didn’t anticipate—so thank you, for your trust. 

“Thank you also for adding a new qualification to my resume, since I  _ did  _ have to get certified for this in order for it to be legal under ESUN law, after all. I took this task very seriously. I even studied! I studied harder for this than I think I ever have before,” he said and finally righted the materials he had till now clutched to his chest, revealing a stack of books. They were dog-eared with colored page markers sticking out in every conceivable direction, and included a menagerie of materials: half a dozen religious texts were intermingled with the likes of Sun Tzu, Karl Marx, and Plato. 

Incredulous laughter at the collection burst first between the couple and then outward across the guests to others. As their mirth simmered down once more, Duo said in all seriousness, “But when have any of us ever played by the book?” 

In the expectant silence that followed his question, he looked first at Relena, then at Wufei….and after a beat, chucked the books over his shoulder and the balcony railing behind him to fall with much commotion into the underbrush below.

Dusting his hands off, he settled his gaze once again at the couple before him. “So here’s the real deal…”

* * *

“That was an excellent speech. I thought for sure Wufei would cry before he even got to his vows,” Sally said, sipping champagne as she watched the newlyweds slow dance on the stone patio in the garden, lost in their own world.

“It was an excellent speech,” Mareen agreed. She turned to Heero then and gently probed. “Relena tells me you’re a writer. So...be honest. How much of the ceremony was Duo and how much did you help with?”

Heero shook his head. “That was all Duo.” He took a sip of his own drink and added, “He wrote four different versions. Ended up delivering a fifth.” He squinted into the empty space before him, thinking. “I’m beginning to wonder why his creative process requires such levels of improvisation.”

Trowa chuckled where he loitered nearby. “Don’t know what you need till you get there,” he answered, hefting his camera and aiming it in their direction. “Smile you three. But not in a fake way,” he instructed, snapping the shutter closed a second later.

* * *

“I wasn’t sure if you’d make it,” Quatre said as he took a seat on one of the garden benches next to Duo. 

Duo huffed a dry laugh. “I could say the same about you,” he said, throwing back the rest of the contents of his glass before leveling Quatre with a face that spoke to his concern. “You looked a little peaked earlier. You alright?”

Quatre nodded with a sigh. “Yes, I’m fine. It’s just…” He waved his hand before him, non-committal and aimless.

Duo watched the gesture for a bit before suggesting, “The miasma?” 

When Quatre looked his way again, he found Duo biting his lip between his teeth in a poor attempt not to laugh. Quatre smirked. “Yes, let’s go with that.” This did earn him a laugh from Duo and he felt the man’s tension subside somewhat. Quatre smiled.

* * *

Noin stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror and sighed, her cheeks puffing out as she did so. She had fled back into the house when she felt the tears coming and was thankful for the reprieve. And angry that she had cried at all. The one saving grace was that the light outside had finally faded with sunset and was now too dim for any of the guests to notice.

She would  _ not  _ let them know. This was  _ their  _ day and she wouldn’t allow herself to be the source of bitterness, especially not when there was nothing any of them could do. 

Noin sighed again, her red eyes staring back at her through the mirror. She wouldn’t let them know how much it hurt...to not have a happily ever after of her own.

* * *

Merriment made the hours bleed lazily into the evening, the wedding party surrounded by laughter and music. Food and drink and good company. But after a time the furtive glances Relena had shared with her husband were no longer scratching the growing itch. Taking his hand in hers, she passed a look to her mother—who only smirked in acknowledgement—and fled their reception for a more...personal celebration.

She pointedly ignored the cat calls that followed at their heels and whisked her husband off to their bedroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] Ich liebe dich, “I love you” in German. In LAM!verse, Sanq speaks a German dialect.
> 
> [2] 我爱你 (wǒ ài nǐ), “I love you” in Mandarin


	17. Chapter 17

**Private Island [location redacted]  
** **Fiji, South Pacific  
** **18 August 211**

“We should come back here,” Duo suddenly said from where he sat curled up on the railing of their small porch, a blanket from the bungalow wrapped around his shoulders. “Well,” he amended, “maybe not  _ here _ , here. But somewhere.”

“I didn’t think you liked the ocean,” Heero said. He watched Duo under the dappled moonlight filtering in from under the palm overhead and sensed distress. He gave his partner some space and waited for an invitation to close it, opting to take a seat on the other side of the railing, a post at his back. 

“I didn’t think so either. But then…all the shorelines I’d seen were shipyards and trading ports. The brine and grime makes you nauseous. Sea sick, if you will,” Duo added, earning subdued laughter from Heero, which made him grin. But then he sobered, his eyes drawn again to the darkness around them. “This is different. This is…clean. I like it.”

“Then yes, I think we should come back. As you said, perhaps not ‘here,’ but a beach like it.”

They lapsed into silence again, Duo watching the shadows play amidst the trees and Heero watching Duo. After a while, Duo spoke again, voice quiet. “Do you think they liked it? The ceremony and all?”

“I think they loved it,” Heero answered. “In fact I know they did.” There was a satisfied twitch at the corner of Duo’s mouth, but it didn’t manifest into the smile Heero had hoped he would get. He didn’t have long to wait to understand why. 

“Would you want something like this?”

The question startled him. They’d never really talked about marriage, not really, though Heero supposed the aftermath of one was as good a time as any. “A wedding? With guests and vows and the like?” Duo nodded and finally turned his gaze back to Heero, who shrugged. “Not particularly. I’m not one for the traditions that weddings tend to be built on. I understand why  _ they  _ needed it, why they wanted it. But I don’t think it’s for me.”

Some of the tension ebbed from Duo’s shoulders at his answer and Heero couldn’t help but chuckle. “I take it that was the answer you were looking for?” he asked.

Duo fidgeted on the railing and let the blanket slip from around his shoulders. “I mean, I’m  _ glad  _ that’s the answer. But I would’ve wanted  _ your  _ answer regardless, you know?”

“I know,” Heero assured him. Sensing an opening, he asked directly, “What’s on your mind?” 

Duo shook his head with a grimace, his eyes darting away from Heero’s once more. “I don’t know. It’s just…” He paused, gathering his thoughts, and tried again. “It feels disingenuous to promise ‘forever.’ How can you promise forever when the universe could upend everything in your life because you just so happened to pick the short straw.” He sighed, dejected, and ran a hand through his bangs. “Sorry...I’m not making any sense. I must’ve used up all my eloquence earlier today.” 

Heero considered him, watched him worry his lower lip between his teeth. After a time, he said, “I think I understand where you’re coming from though.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” Heero’s gaze fell to the space between them as he mulled his words, choosing them carefully. “Human life is...fleeting. Short. We have no concept of time, not really. We’re a blip in Earth’s history, and don’t even register in the cosmos. We can’t comprehend what ‘forever’ really means. We can never glimpse the infinite, at least not in our current state. If we can’t understand it, how can we promise it?

“You’d be better off promising a million, a billion, a trillion  _ finite  _ infinities,” Heero reasoned. “Time is elastic. It stretches and contracts, bends to our will. We see it in months passing within days, or the minutes ticking down on a clock feeling like weeks. Or a kiss stopping time altogether.”

Silence met his comments. And then: “Who’s the eloquent one now?” 

Heero snorted but felt a blush rise in his cheeks and was thankful for the darkness that shielded him. Duo unfurled himself then and scooted closer across the railing, tucking himself in close to Heero’s side before wrapping them both in the blanket. Extracting a hand, he caught Heero’s chin in his fingertips and Heero saw all the hidden depths that resided in his dark eyes. 

“I love you,” Duo told him in no uncertain terms. “For all the finite infinities. However many we have. However many we get.” 

Heero smiled, leaned down, and kissed him.


	18. Chapter 18

**Private Island [location redacted]  
** **Fiji, South Pacific  
** **18 August 211**

Trowa raised his hand and knocked twice on the bungalow door. He then stepped back and fidgeted as he waited, slipping his hands into his pockets. Quatre had looked tired when the wedding party had gone their separate ways, worn out from the events of the day. Emotions had been running high and the empath had clearly gotten the brunt of it. And yet...it had also given Trowa an excuse to come by and check on him. Or so he had told himself moments ago. Now he couldn’t help but feel a bit foolish. Looking up at the moon that hung full and bright overhead, he swallowed thickly and sighed.  _ What am I doing…? _

The moon didn’t answer, but the door opened, warm light spilling out into the tropical darkness. “Trowa?” Quatre asked, backlit by the room behind him. 

“Hey,” Trowa began but then his voice failed him, faced with the man who had been occupying his thoughts much of their stay on the beach. This was a dumb idea—

“There are no dumb ideas,” Quatre said and it took a moment for Trowa to realize he had spoken aloud. His surprise must have shown on his face because Quatre leaned against the door jamb and smiled at him. It looked as if he blushed, though surely it was just a trick of the light. “What brings you here?” Quatre asked.

“I thought maybe we could go for a walk. Just us.” He bit his lip, uncertain. “But. If you’re too tired…”

“A walk would be wonderful.” Quatre glanced over his shoulder and before stepping away from the open door. “Let me grab a blanket.” 

Trowa watched from the doorway as Quatre flitted back into the bungalow to tug a blanket off of the settee. The lodging was immaculate and hardly lived in. It gave Trowa pause. All of them had spent most of their time in the main plantation house, of course, but even Trowa’s entryway looked as if someone was at least sleeping there. 

Blanket secured, Quatre returned to the door and—closing it behind him—said only, “Let’s go,” before stepping out into the night.

They wove their way through the trees to the deserted beach and headed away from the plantation. The moon hung high and bright, lighting their way along the sand while the waves crashed and rumbled softly against the shore. They walked in silence for a time, far enough until the light from the plantation and bungalows were well behind them, leaving them only with the stars in the sky. 

“Mind if we sit for a bit?” Quatre asked, sounding a bit revived despite the suggestion. 

“Of course,” Trowa answered. He helped Quatre shake out the blanket and lay it flat over the sand, and then they both collapsed down onto it with twin groans before laughing together. 

“Weddings are exhausting,” Quatre declared. 

“Let’s not do this again any time soon,” Trowa agreed. 

Quatre snorted beside him before sitting back up, planting his hands securely behind him on the blanket. “I’m fairly certain the next ones in the queue aren’t interested in weddings.”

“I assume you’re talking about Thing One and Thing Two,” Trowa mused as he too sat up and crossed his legs before him. “You don’t think they’ll do some massive Catholic wedding?”

“Hardly.” 

“Why not?” 

Quatre considered this, squinting out at the dark ocean before them as if he was dredging his memory for something important. “What was it Duo used to say…? ‘Run and hide, but never tell a lie.’ Something like that?” He cast a playful grin sidelong at Trowa and doubled-down. “No, I think they’re much more the eloping type.” Then he added, “Wanna bet me on it?”

Trowa chuckled and shook his head. “No, thank you. I don’t feel like losing any more money on our friends’ love lives. I made that mistake once already.” [1]

They lapsed into silence once more, comfortable sitting under the stars for a time...but Trowa felt a prickling unease at the back of his neck.  _ Someone is looking,  _ some animal part of his brain told him. He knew well enough that they were in fact alone...which meant the ‘someone’ in question was sitting next to him. 

Or so he ventured to guess. “You  _ can  _ just ask, you know,” he said, showing his hand. As soon as he said it, the pressure at the base of his skull subsided. 

Beside him, Quatre dropped his head and looked away. “I’m sorry. It’s...running on all cylinders today. I didn’t mean to.”

“I don’t mind when you look,” Trowa said, voice soft. 

Quatre huffed a dry, half-hearted laugh. “You said as much once before, but you weren’t entirely sober at the time.”

Trowa smirked, half-formed memories of a New Year’s Eve spent in downtown Seoul with a troupe of circus performers came to mind. He turned his eyes to Quatre and found the other man watching him closely. “I’m sober now,” he assured, meeting the other man’s unwavering gaze.

Quatre only nodded, taking this onboard. Eventually he looked away again, back to the rippling waves of the dark ocean that stretched forever on before them. 

Beside him, Trowa slipped back into their shared silence. But this time it felt charged with something he couldn’t place. Something had sparked, though he didn’t know what it was...didn’t trust the heart that hammered in his chest as the seconds ticked by.

When Quatre spoke again, his eyes were on the horizon. “You left.” No resentment or anger; only a simple statement of fact.

“I had to.” 

“I know. And you were right to.”

Again that crackling silence fell over them and Trowa felt it hard to breathe as his pulse raced in his ears. Something was coming. 

“Do you think…” Quatre began, turning to face Trowa and capture his eyes with his own. “After everything. After all these years... Do you think you could love me again?”

“I never  _ stopped  _ loving you,” Trowa confessed, words tumbling from his lips, his heart in his throat. His vision blurred as tears filled his eyes. 

Quatre took his face in his hands then and kissed him with all the force of a maelstrom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] Readers may recall that the group bet on when Wufei would propose [during the last reunion](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19409629/chapters/46190593).


	19. Chapter 19

**Private Island [location redacted]  
** **Fiji, South Pacific  
** **19 August 211**

The guests uniformly opted to leave the newlyweds to their own devices for the time being and instead made their way to the beach, each of them venturing out from their respective lodgings to greet each other and the bright day ahead. Thermoses of coffee and fruit passed among them as they swapped sanitized versions of their respective evenings after the wedding party had dispersed for the night. By midday, with the sun beating down overhead, they assumed it was safe to return to the plantation house to greet the couple formally. 

As they wound their way up the path to the main house, however, the group stopped short at the shed at the edge of the property. Posted to the door was a note in Relena’s feminine script which read: 

_ There is a heavily armed and well-fortified pair of newlyweds somewhere on the property.  _

_ You are currently within range.  _

_ Choose your weapon wisely. _

Below the note was an array of armaments to include handheld water cannons, a slingshot, and buckets of water balloons. 

Heero and Trowa cursed, their eyes immediately scanning the trees. Hilde and Sally rushed to secure the largest gun they could find of the assortment while Mareen and Noin both muffled their laughter behind their hands. Duo, Quatre, and Une meanwhile eyed the note with suspicion. 

“We’re in range  _ now _ ?” Duo asked, sounding doubtful. “Why would they tell us that?”

“Probably to throw us off the scent, if they were smart,” Une suggested.

“But you forget that Wufei is much more inclined toward direct confrontation than some of us would recommend. So there’s no guarantee that—”

Quatre wasn’t able to finish his assessment. Mere centimeters away from his head, a water balloon erupted against the side of the shed. 

“Shit, I guess we  _ are  _ in range!” Duo hissed and grabbed a weapon, bolting for cover.

As the group scattered, laughter erupted above them. Relena and Wufei poked their heads over the railing of the second story wrap-around porch, grinning ear-to-ear. “Come and get us, ya bastards!” Relena shouted down to the startled guests while Wufei laughed uproariously.


	20. Chapter 20

**Private Island [location redacted]  
** **Fiji, South Pacific  
** **21 August 211**

They had bid their guests farewell on the tarmac and took one of the jeeps back to the plantation house. It felt empty but not hollow, Relena thought. The quiet after the storm has passed or an extravagant party has ended. Rich and full, splendid in its silence.

Wufei walked into the main room and collapsed backwards on the large sofa. Relena followed him, collapsing bonelessly on top of him. Beneath her, he made a show of groaning at the additional weight pressing him backwards into the pillows but promptly wrapped his arms around her and dropped a kiss to the crown of her head.

They lay together for time simply listening to the silence and their heartbeats. Content with nothing and everything. 

“So what do we do now?” he asked at last. 

Relena smirked. “Fuck.” Wufei burst into incredulous laughter where he lay pinned beneath her. She then added, “On every surface,” which only made Wufei laugh harder. Relena grinned, her cheek pressed against his chest. It was a delightful sound and her smile softened as she felt the fatigue creep up on her. “But first...perhaps a nap?”

“I think that is a wonderful idea,” Wufei agreed, sounding half-asleep already.


	21. Chapter 21

**Duo and Heero’s Apartment  
** **Brussels, Belgium  
** **23 August 211**

Duo stood in the kitchen, still bleary-eyed and half asleep as he hovered over the coffee pot and skimmed through the alerts on his phone. He waded through a slew of messages that had come in while he slept, all of which had been flagged ‘urgent.’ As he sipped at his coffee, he built an ever-growing mental checklist of things to address once he was in the office. 

But then a new message from their boss popped up at the top of his inbox. “Oh Snap!” read the title. He tapped it with his thumb and opened the message.

\----------------------------------------------------------------

From: Reuson, Michael (ESUN-P)  
To: Front Office Team Distro  
Subject: Oh Snap!

Real important press coverage below. Possibly worthy of critical acclaim. Anyone else find it rather suspicious that the Chief’s vacation coincided with the supposed event… Coincidence??

;)

-MR

_**ESUN Official and Gundam Pilot 05 Wed** _

_Associated Press (AP)—Relena Darlian, ESUN Official and Technical Advisor to President Michael Reuson, is reported to have married confirmed Gundam Pilot 05, Wufei Zhang, last month in a private ceremony. Zhang has been serving as Preventers Chief of Staff since… [Read More]_

\----------------------------------------------------------------

Standing in his kitchen, Duo laughed. ****


	22. Chapter 22

**Stills Photo Gallery  
** **Edinburgh, Scotland  
** **3 October 211**

Trowa dialed the number before he gave it much thought. His head was in turmoil and his stomach felt sick. He didn’t have energy to give his choice of lifeline further consideration.

Until Quatre answered the vid call, that is. “Trowa?” Quatre said, concern etched into his face. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry,” Trowa said, feeling breathless. “I don’t even know what time it is there—”

Quatre dismissed his concern outright. “Doesn’t matter. What’s wrong?”

Trowa swallowed thickly, cradling the mobile between his hands. “Gallery opening tonight.”

“You’ve done openings before.”

“Not like this,” Trowa countered and scrubbed his face with a hand as he leaned back against the brick wall behind him. “I have a whole wall to myself, Quat.”

“That’s wonderful!” 

“I’m not so sure.”

“Why?” Just as suddenly, Quatre’s mood darkened. “Did someone say something?”

Trowa gave him a wry smile. “Why? You going to call in a hit?”

“Don’t tempt me,” Quatre answered but the vague threat remained, hanging between them. 

“No, no one has said anything,” Trowa said, taking a deep breath which did little to settle his nerves. “No one has been anything other than kind. And supportive.”

“So why the concern?”

Trowa worried his lower lip between his teeth, considering the question for a time. At last he said, “The longer I do this...the more of  _ these  _ I do...the more I wonder if I belong. Whether I actually fit into this community, into this life. I  _ like  _ taking pictures of the world, sharing all the beauty that’s out there...but I feel like an imposter.”

Quatre was quiet for a time and Trowa allowed the silence to settle between them, his gaze turning inward as it stretched on. It wasn’t oppressive or intense; simply there, thoughtful. 

At last, Quatre spoke up. “Can I tell you a secret?” he began. When Trowa didn’t protest, he continued. “I think most of us have doubts like this. That we think we’re...not enough, or don’t fit. That we’re fooling everyone including ourselves, pretending that we’re anything but what the war made us. 

“But the more I talk to other people, the more I realize we’re not alone in this. So many other people feel the same, like we’re actors in a play. Whether we landed the parts by luck or necessity or perhaps because it’s always something we wanted to attempt, doesn’t really matter. All we can do is take the role we have and  _ try _ . Yes, perhaps there are some we’re more ‘suited’ for, or more prepared for. But all we can do is try and play the part we have now and see where it takes us.”

Trowa allowed his eyes to drift back to Quatre, who gave him a slow, tender smile when their eyes met through the video feed. “And who better to play the esoteric wandering artist,” Quatre said, “than an esoteric wandering artist?”


	23. Chapter 23

**Duo and Heero’s Apartment  
** **Brussels, Belgium  
** **11 November 211**

Duo lay on his belly in their shared bed, his legs and arms limp and tossed to either side of him across the comforter. His head was cushioned by the juncture of Heero’s hip and thigh, tucked up against his belly while the other man—his own legs stretched out on either side of Duo’s torso—ran his hands in soothing circles on his back. Duo groaned appreciatively. The week had been murder and it didn’t look like there would be an end in sight, so when Heero had set his journal aside and stretched his arms forward in welcome, he had taken to this small respite wholeheartedly. 

Heero had only laughed a little bit when Duo collapsed as dead weight on top of him.

But the longer Duo lay there—thinking of nothing other than how warm Heero felt beneath him—the more he noticed a pattern creeping into Heero’s caress. Again and again the sweep of his fingers charted their way across his shoulder blades as if treading a well-known path. His brows knitted together as he focused on the movement, trying to suss out its meaning. In the end, he simply asked, “Why do you keep writing the same line?”

Heero’s fingers faltered in their sweep, his hand falling flat against Duo’s shoulder. After a beat, he answered, “I’m stuck on this one line.”

“Prose?”

Heero hummed. “No. Poem.”

That was intriguing. Duo rolled over and squinted up at his partner for a moment. Heero’s cheeks were dusted with a faint flush and his eyes darted away as Duo’s came into his line of sight.  _ Cute. _ Duo smiled unseen and sat up, wriggling off of the bed. “Stay here,” he instructed and walked out of the bedroom.

Ducking into the office, he scoured the desk drawers until he found a black marker with a heavy tip. He tested it on some scrap paper and smiled at the strong black stroke it left. Turning around, he headed back into the bedroom to find Heero sitting where he left him, albeit a bit more bewildered.

“Here, catch,” Duo said as he tossed the marker to Heero who caught it easily enough. He then stripped out of his shirt, dropping it in the general location of their closet, before climbing back onto the bed. Crawling forward, he again dropped onto his stomach, this time beside his partner. He pulled his braid out of the way and tugged it in underneath his shoulder before turning expectant eyes on Heero. 

Duo found him watching him closely and could almost see the gears turning in his head as he processed the silent offer. His eyes searched Duo’s face in that uncertain way that always told him he was making sure he wasn’t misreading something. But then Heero graced him with one of his shy smiles and shifted up on the bed to straddle Duo’s hips.

Duo closed his eyes as Heero settled above him and nearly sighed with relief as the tension in his back he hadn’t realized was there released under Heero’s added weight. And then he felt Heero tuck his toes in under his legs to anchor himself and uncap the marker.

“This is permanent,” Heero said. A warning.

“Not as permanent as your tatt,” Duo countered. “It’ll come off in a few days. And I’m not planning on anyone but you seeing me shirtless, so. Have at it.”

Heero gave him a moment longer for second guessing and hesitation but when Duo said nothing further, he leaned forward and set the marker to his skin. 

Duo’s nose immediately scrunched and his lips quirked into a pinched grin as the felt tip ran across his shoulders in confident strokes. “It tickles,” he admitted.

“Try not to laugh too hard. And don’t squirm.” The comment was delivered in Heero’s typical dry tone, but there was no small amount of mirth tangled up and interwoven within the few syllables. 

Duo bit his lip and tried to stay still as the marker swept across his back. He took a slow, deep breath and focused on the patterns that were taking shape. He didn’t recognize the script and so it was easy to get lost in the rising and falling, as if he was following a mapped road with his finger or a tributary as it carved its way through a canon. Hypnotic and peaceful, he felt himself lulled to the edge of sleep, the stress of the job fading further and further away.

And then Heero got to the troublesome line. He paused and Duo could sense the pen hovering over his skin as if the author was uncertain about his next move. 

Barely awake, Duo mumbled, “Finish it.”

Above him, Heero huffed and put ink to skin again, the confidence of his earlier strokes restored. And then he sat back, his weight shifting down Duo’s thighs. “Done.”

“What’s it about?”

“Oceans,” Heero answered. Duo heard him cap the pen and toss it aside before leaning forward to drop a tender kiss to his shoulder. “And night skies. And embers.”

“Sounds pretty,” Duo murmured, feeling like he was falling into the abyss. “You should write it down. So you don’t forget.”

Against his skin, he felt Heero smile before he kissed him again. “I just did.”


	24. Chapter 24

**L’Apothicaire [1]  
** **Geneva, Switzerland  
** **22 December 211**

Although Sally had had her chance earlier in the day to embarrass Wufei in front of the senior leadership and sent him off with all fanfare worthy of a Chief of Staff, it was this gathering of the so-called Morale Booster Sub-Committee [2] members that solidified that he was leaving the Preventers. After all this time, all these years...he was leaving Preventers.

Wufei took a shuddering breath and downed the rest of his drink. 

Beside him, Oskar Nilsson [2] chuckled and Heero deftly plucked the empty glass from Wufei’s hands, swapping it for one filled with water. “Thanks,” Wufei said, taking a sip. Heero only nodded with a knowing smile.

“I take it realization just hit,” Nilsson said. “I was trying to remember how long you’ve been—”

“Sixteen years,” Wufei interjected and watched the man’s eyebrows shoot up toward his hairline.

“Wow, since the beginning. Damn. How’s it feel, to be on the cusp of some new adventure?”

“Surreal.” Wufei turned then to Heero and asked, “Was it surreal for you too?”

Heero considered it for a time, his eyes scanning the sizeable crowd of guests and well-wishers. “Not in the same way as it is for you, I don’t think. But time passes differently, being outside of the system.” He raised his hand then, eyes on the door.

Wufei let his eyes follow Heero’s and caught sight of a woman entering the bar. Brown hair tied up in a casual knot, tendrils falling about her face as she unwound her scarf and picked her way through the crowd. Anonymous and forgettable amidst the crowd of current and former Preventers agents. Wufei smiled. “I didn’t think you’d come,” he admitted.

“Of course I came,” she said as she came close.

“There’s press,” he cautioned. “They don’t look like it, but they’re here.”

“I don’t much care,” she answered, and kissed him. 

It was then that Nilsson put the pieces together and started laughing. “Jesus, Zhang. I was about ready to defend your wife’s honor and then—” He laughed again before extending his hand. “Oskar Nilsson. You had me fooled, Ma’am.” 

Relena grinned up at him. “Good. Means I’m doing an alright job at this incognito stuff. Will need it when Wufei heads to Paris.” A thought struck her then. When she spoke, her voice was light and teasing, blue eyes alight with mirth. “Speaking of...Wufei, do you think you’re ready to be just one more asshole of many at university?”

Wufei groaned. “Not in the slightest.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] L’Apothicaire is a swanky (made up) bar in Geneva that has become a regular watering hole for the Preventers crowd.
> 
> [2] The Sub-Committee made its first appearance early in Wufei’s tenure as Chief of Staff as members of the mid-level Preventers leadership who had Wufei’s back. You can read about some of their exploits in [New Horizons](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15884163) and [Distractions](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15884361).


End file.
